Before the end of times
by Deezaster82
Summary: Starscream has been travelling as a spark for millions of years and eventually finds himself at the end of times. Not quite ready to meet the end of his own existence, The dead seeker summons Primus and requests a last favor from him.
1. Chapter 1

Story title: Before the end of time

Chap 1: The last star in the universe.

His existence had been infinite. How long was it now? He didn't know, really, he had no means to know since he didn't have a chronometer to tell him anymore. But by the looks of things around him, it had been a long time, a very long time for which a proper name of time measurement didn't exist. It was over billions of trillions of years since the day he had died for the second time.

Damaged by Galvatron's blasts and drifting out of control in space, his body had ceased to function. Unlike the first time, his death had been slow, his fuel calmly dripping from the open lines, his motors stuck by the cold of space. He had seen his newly given body deteriorate without being able to do anything about his fate and he had lost it, again. That body, which had been powerful and magnificent, had turned grey and useless, so he had to leave it. Dispersed through space as the time had passed, the metal carcass had been reduced to dust.

Starscream had always known that he would not get another chance at life. No one could or would accept to do it for him. Unicron was no longer able to give him another body and would not grant him that wish anyway. No one would ever put up with him, follow him, trust him anymore. He had brought that to himself by systematically betraying every last one of those who had walked at his side or who had been foolish enough to regard him as a friend. He had never cared for anyone, even those who had been ready to give him everything they were and much more. He had taken what he wanted from them only to abandon them after, in the best cases. For the most, they simply died.

No one cried the day Starscream died.

Not even he himself.

Unicron, Cybertron, the Decepticons, the Autobots...With time passing, all was gone. The Cybertronians had evolved greatly, along with the planet. There had been long periods of war followed by long periods of peace, then more conflicts had occured and the Cybertronian race eventually became something that was nothing like their ancestors, the Cybertronians of the kind of his age. The only thing that had seemed to bind them was their inevitable fate. Wars had weakened the planet over and over again until the day it had collapsed on itself. For the Cybertronians had come the end of the world. Their billions of years-worth memory had remained for a few millenia more while the hostility of space had taken to claiming the survivors. In the universe, nothing was in a hurry.

Starscream himself had learnt to be very patient, as he had nothing to wait for any longer. A tiny orb of blue light wandering among the stars, he was merely a spectator contemplating the course of time and how it changed the universe around him without affecting his existence, for he was out of the reach of time itself.

The disappearance of his own kind and the destruction of his world had affected him greatly, but even then, his sorrow was egocentrical because now, he had no more reason to be, to exist. He had no more goal, no place to belong to, no one to remember him. He was the last one to remember them, the ones that he had wished to remember. He was the last one to carry the memory of their existence, but he was dead himself. So, it was like nothing had existed at all.

But he existed still and soon had stopped to be affected by the things he witnessed, the end of many worlds, the destruction of thousands of planets.

His scientific mind noticed, after a very long while, that creation had halted and that the time passing brought only destruction around him; planets and stars disappeared, but none were created. And Starscream soon deduced that it was the universe itself that was disappearing. He realised that he was going to witness the end of times.

Starscream, who had thought he would never be able to feel anything anymore, was suddenly afraid. Afraid of disappearing for good in the void that would follow the destruction of the universe and where all that remained of him would find its end.

And even now, he could hear it: " I will rule the universe, even if I am the last one in the universe!". He had been right, but he was only a tiny piece of light in the immense nothingness, a last remnant of the existence of something infinite that would soon cease to exist.

Once again, he knew there was nothing he could ever do about it. But before it happened, before everything went dark, he still had a question to ask, he still had someone to go talk to.

He travelled through space, back to the coordinates of that place where Cybertron once had been, and stopped upon reaching drifting debris he hoped were what remained of his lost world. There he called his memory for a projection of his self image. It was pointless, but he wanted to be seen again as he once was, a very long time ago, even if the red in his optics was dark and the smirk on his face was no more. He wanted to be decent for the one he had come to visit.

"Primus?" he called and was surprised by the sound of his own voice. He hadn't talked for so long... "Primus, please, answer me!"

For long, there was only the silence of the nothingness around him, but he continued to call Primus' name until...

"Nobody has pronounced my name for eons. I thought no one remembered me anymore."

The image of Primus, as etheral as Starscream's own image appeared in front of him.

"Who are you?" asked the god of all Cybertronian, now god of nothing.

"My name is Starscream, I am... I was one of your creations."

Primus seemed to think and to remember.

"You are the last one remaining of my children. Why does it have to be you who carries the memory of my planet and my creations? I have to tell you that you haven't been my pride."

"I don't feel insulted by your words, great Primus. I have had the time to contemplate my life and I know what I was, I know what I've done and I'm not sorry."

"That is of no importance...." The god was bitter.

"Yes, that is true," Starscream replied.

The god looked around him. "It lasted so long... I never thought it would end one day. But the fact is, this is the end." He turned back his attention to Starscream. "And you? What do you want from me. You haven't come only to talk, have you? Whatever it is you want, ask quickly, we don't have much time."

"When I was alive, I've never doubted myself, not even for a nano-klik. I regret nothing I've done," started Starscream.

"If you have nothing to regret, then it is good," Primus said.

"I regret nothing, but I wonder how things would have been if I would have acted differently at some point. Something I've done and that gave me remorses in the long run after I died. I want to be there again and see for myself how it would have been if..."

"This is a wish I can grant you, as I have nothing else left to do and you are my last child. Where and when is it you want to be?"

"In the shuttle, Astrotrain, as we escape Autobot City on Earth."

"The day you first died."

"The day everything went hayware: Galvatron was created that day."

Primus nodded. There was no need for him to remind Starscream that "Galvatron" was due to his doing.

"I can show you the past, but it's not going to change a thing. What is done is done: the past I will send you to is just an illusion. It may help you find the answers to your questions, but whatever you will do will have no effect on the timeline."

"I understand."

"Farewell then."

"Farewell."

To be continued in "I'll never make it to Cybertron".


	2. Chapter 2

Chap 2 : « I'll never make it to Cybertron ! »

Starscream didn't offline his optics, for the simple reason he didn't have any. But the next he knew, he was onlining them and found himself sitting against the inner hull of Astrotrain with all the Decepticons who had participated in the attack of Autobot City on Earth gathered in the space shuttle around him.

His hand scraped over the floor. He had forgotten how it feels to be able to touch something, the feel of the material under his metal skin made him sigh deeply in satisfaction. He had forgotten how it feels to be alive and have a functional body. After those millions and millions of eons feeling nothing but numbness, a simple touch was delightful.

"You better jettison some weight or I'll never make it to Cybertron."

Starscream came out of his reverie as the resonating voice of Astrotrain reminded him why he was here again. He stood up to address all the others.

"My fellow Decepticons, Astrotrain has requested we lighten our burden..."

Bonecrusher stood up as well and declared it was survival of the fittest, glancing at the damaged Decepticons gathered together in the shuttle. Starscream ignored that and continued.

"So we will throw out everything we can. Get into the cockpit and remove the seats. Get rid of everything that is loose!" he commanded.

"Why throw away useful material when-" Scrapper looked at the wounded insistantly.

"Don't even think about it!" threatened Starscream.

Scrapper walked up in front and the remaining Constructicons stood up. "They are barely functional. They are going to die soon anyway."

"Yes, they must sacrifice themselves for the safety of the others!"

"We will not throw out anybody. Dare move a finger towards them and it's you I will throw out, after making sure you're not functional anymore!" Starscream shouted at them. The Constructicons looked at each other, but said and did nothing

Thankfully, some other Decepticons had obeyed Starscream's order and already started to throw out loose equipment, including empty weapons. Frenzy hesitated in front of the door, Megatron's fusion cannon in his arms.

"Throw it!" Rumble encouraged his brother. "He'll find some other deadly weapon"

When everything that wasn't alive was thrown out, including a protesting Astrotrain's pilot seats and secondary equipment, the shuttle was asked if it was sufficient. The answer, unsurprisingly, was negative.

"Everybody get rid of their weaponry!" Starscream ordered.

He quickly scanned his wingmates and the Insecticons: Skywarp and Thundercracker suffered severe and painful damage, but they were mostly external. Starscream faintly smiled, relieved to think that they were not in danger and would survive. Bombshell was unconscious, but his wounds were minor. Shrapnel was in bad shape and would probably not survive. Kickback... he scanned twice to be sure. Kickback was dead, but no one needed to know as long as his colors had not faded.

"Starscream, this is insane! Let's throw those who will not make it instead," protested Blitzwing, backed by the Constructicons.

"No..." Starscream started to remove the wounded's weapons. They didn't protest, knowing it was their weapons or them.

"I am certain that if you were wounded, you'd be eager to jump out for the sake of the others" the red seeker said to Blitzwing and the Constructicons.

He seized Bonecrusher roughly by the shoulder and led him towards the door. "I can help you with that! And will you sacrifice yourself, soldier?" he shouted at him, presenting him to the void of space.

"No!!!" screamed the Constructicon warrior, clinging to Starscream and the door frame with all his might.

The air commander shoved him back inside, searched him for weapons and stripped him of his blaster.

The rest of the gestalt team and the other Decepticons got rid of their shooters reluctantly.

"Don't worry, soldiers, you'll receive new weapons once we'll be back on Cybertron."

Then Starscream walked towards the end of the shuttle where Soundwave and his Cassetticons watched over a severely damaged Megatron.

"Soundwave... Give me your shoulder cannon, please."

The blue Decepticon looked at him shortly, no emotion readable on his visored face. Then, very slowly, he removed his weapon and gave it to the second-in-command. Starscream threw it out and then removed his own null rays, remaining missiles and cluster bombs. The final one to get rid of his weaponry, Starscream contently came back to have a look at Megatron. With the time he had spent without him, he had learned to miss him, the Megatron of old that used to call him "traitor" and "fool". Megatron had not become Galvatron. That purple monster was someone else; nothing had remained of Megatron in that insane mechanism that was Galvatron. Megatron was just reduced to an empty shell to be inhabited by Unicron's pawn.

Yes, during his so long journey through space, when he was nothing but a swirling orb of light, Starscream had missed a few acquaintances. Megatron, Skywarp and Thundercracker, the ones he had killed that day and who had been taken by Unicron. Even if it would change nothing in reality, he wouldn't let it happen this time.

He knelt next to Soundwave. "How is he faring?"

The cassette holder was surprised, even if he showed nothing of it. "Status: Online, suffering."

Starscream had a closer look. Megatron's armor was dented and bent in strange shapes, lifefluid leaked from open lines and circuit boards sparkled. The red seeker conveyed energy to his fingers and started to use the thin lazer to patch the most important lines to prevent further loss of vital fluids. Meanwhile, he fried exposed neural circuits to numb the pain.

Black fingers suddenly clamped themselves around his wrist. They squeezed, but were not strong enough to cause pain.

"Starscream..." Megatron rasped. "What...are you...doing...traitor?!" His hand was shaking.

"Starscream: repairing you, lord Megatron," Soundwave answered, knowing that Megatron would trust him more than the seeker.

Megatron stared at his second-in-command who stared back at him, his countenance impassive. The overlord must have calculated his chances, because he released the blue hand and smiled- a slight smile, but it was a smile- letting his head fall back on Soundwave's lap. Megatron entered stasis.

"He'll trust you... this time," was all Soundwave said for the rest of the journey back to Cybertron.

Starscream did his best to keep Megatron alive and, to his own surprise, managed to. Soundwave had watched him closely as he worked on their leader, keeping an eye on what he did and wondering why the air commander acted like this. It wasn't like him at all. The blue telepath knew Starscream very well; he had been around him for nine million years. He was far too selfish to care about anyone's well being; his sudden concern for Megatron certainly hid obscure intentions. Anything he would have in hand for the Decepticon leader couldn't be pleasant. By no means Soundwave would ever trust the second-in-command.

Soundwave attempted to access the seeker's thoughts, but it was useless: strong mental barriers were in place, preventing him to enter Starscream's conscious. Starscream always protected himself when Soundwave was around. Even when he wasn't too.

When Megatron's neural systems were stabilised and all his lines patched, Starscream let him in Soundwave's care without a word and went to see his unconscious wingmates. Soundwave watched as he bent towards them and knelt to check on them. It was nothing unusual, for the air commander himself often attended to his wingmates when they were wounded in battle. Those repairs usually were accompanied by insults and rants about how useless Skywarp and Thundercracker were in their commander's opinion. What was not usual this time, though, was the way he touched them. Soundwave couldn't believe he would once think of the word 'gentle' was appropriate to designate any of Starscream's actions.

But it happened right in front of his visor: Starscream softly touched Thundercracker's face to turn his head and check the wires of his neck. He ran the tip of his finger along a crack in the blue flyer's shoulder and drifted to a fissured wing, careful as if he was afraid to break it further.

He patched and welded the wing back together with intense concentration until the limb was completely flight-worthy again. Besides traces of patching that would disappear with a good layer of paint, the work was perfect, far more thorough than normal field repairs. When Thundercracker's wings and most hampering wounds were taken care of, Starscream turned his attention towards Skywarp and attended him with the same caution he had attended the blue seeker with.

Astrotrain had reduced his speed, not drastically, but enough to compensate for the slight overcharge. Thus, the travel back to Cybertron seemed incredibly long for all the passengers. Thankfully, the ones that may have physically suffered the extra time were in stasis. The others were just resting or chatting between themselves. Starscream didn't care what they were talking about, even if he heard his name whispered here and there. He knew he wasn't acting like his old self and this probably disturbed the other Decepticons, but it was of no importance. They were all dead for a very long time anyway.

He hadn't changed that much after all; he was still being selfish, taking care of the wingmates he had once killed only to ease his remorses. Or was it only for that? Something had certainly changed in him, after all that time being able to do nothing else but think, he was now able to be honest with himself and recognise that his sickening pride and ego had often taken the best out of him, making him look stupid while he was intelligent and also act like the biggest jerk ever while he was... well no, he wasn't exactly nice.

Being nice wasn't in the Decepticons' programming, but that didn't mean that friendship didn't exist among the troops. Starscream had just ignored his emotional needs, convinced they were useless and would make him weak. He had systematically repelled all who had tried to seduce or befriend him, without even trying to know if they were worthy or not. Well, sometimes he had teamed up with some of them, but only to reach his own goals and had disposed of them once they ceased to be useful to him.

Result: he had lived millions of years, existed in afterdeath for trillions of years... and he was still a virgin…

He had never been able to be pleasant to anyone ever since he had joined the Decepticon army. The end of all was maybe a good time to start trying again? He smiled bitterly at these thoughts while welding a significant crack on Skywarp's leg. He didn't realise that two bright optics were staring at him in utter confusion.

"Screamer?" Skywarp muttered, a hint of surprise in his voice. He even backed off slightly.

Starscream suspended his work and looked at his wingmate. "Am I hurting you?" he asked with concern.

"Not much..." the black-and-purple seeker answered, wondering if he wasn't imagining things; was it really his commander who was kneeling in front of him and looked at him as if he cared?

"Then hold still while I finish this."

Starscream resumed the repairs. Skywarp watched him work for a while and when he was certain he could trust his doings, he directed his optics toward Thundercracker, ready for the worst. To his welcomed surprise, his blue friend was almost fully repaired, nothing like the poor wreck he had looked like before Skywarp had fallen in stasis. The seeker extended an arm and touched Thundercracker's vents experimentally; they were cycling air at normal revolution speed, meaning he was just recharging. Skywarp sighed in relief; he had been convinced this was the end for them.

Starscream had finished his leg and he had felt almost nothing. Skywarp shivered when Starscream stroked the back of his thruster.

"Can you feel this?"

"Yes..."

Skywarp moved his leg away from Starscream's hands. This was strange. This was not the first time his commander repaired him, but usually, the seeker captain was harsh and cold. He used to act like it was a privilege for them to be repaired by him and never, oh never was he gentle. All unlike now.

Skywarp, who wasn't as dumb as he was generally thought to be, understood quickly that Starscream was acting out of his programming.

"Screamer?" The black-and-purple flyer leaned in to observe his leader's face.

"Yes?"

"You tolerate that I call you "Screamer"?"

"Hardly. But it won't change the fact you always call me that," Starscream said, and shrugged.

"You are acting weird…"

"Maybe." The air commander tilted his head to the side.

"You seem different."

"Maybe I changed a little, I've been thinking a lot recently." Starscream smiled and this frightened Skywarp even more.

"That's not like you at all!"

"It could be that I'm fed up of being a pain in the aft. You know, I haven't always been like that."

"Are you saying that you will stop shouting at us all the day out? You will not wake us up in the middle of the night for 'special night manoeuvre training'? You will share your high grade with us? You will stop calling us names?"

"I think I want to try."

"And I think you've been hit on the head, badly!"

Skywarp suddenly seized Starscream helmet and started to check his cranial unit for cracks. The only thing Starscream knew was that no one had touched him for so long that he had forgotten the feeling. Skywarp's hands were warm and he sighed because it made him feel good. Alive.

He was alive.

Until the end of times.

To be continued


	3. Chapter 3

I'm so sorry it took me almost two years to eventually come up with this chapter, which is not even worth the wait. To be honest, I had planned to abandon this story. But seeing as people are still requesting an update even after so much time made me want to give it another chance, so here it is.

As I said, the update isn't worth the wait, but I promise it will get interesting soon. I'm not sure if I will include (much) slash pairings in this,I will see how it goes because, well, I don't even know myself!

Leave a review if you liked this.

Chapter 3: A change of plan

As long as it has seemed to be, the Decepticons' journey back to Cybertron eventually came to an end. Exhausted, Astrotrain touched down on the base's landing ground. He informed his passengers of their landing and 'kindly' asked them to get the hell out of his insides and fetch him some fresh energon a.s.a.p. The very low level of his tanks didn't even allow him to transform into his bipedal mode.

Everybody went out of the space train, more than happy to comply with their transport's request.

For most of them, returning back home meant a well deserved rest, a very needed refuel and repairs. Most hoped that, given the actual situation and the state their leader was in, there would be not much for a simple soldier to do for several orns, which means only one thing: Vacations.

Fools, they didn't know...

Of course they didn't know, they could not foresee the future! But Starscream had gone through this, no matter that it had all happened a very long time ago for him. He knew exactly what would take place so very soon that no one could be prepared on time, even with the knowledge of the future.

There was a key element that would be missing to that future he had known about, though, and it was a very important one too: This time, Unicron would not have a Galvatron to do all his biddings.

But Starscream knew better than to expect a radical change of the course of events. The chaos bringer was- least one could said- inventive, he'd find another wicked way to get things done the way he'd want them to be. Starscream couldn't guess what it would be, but he had the feeling that he'd know very soon.

He had opened the door to an entirely new future. From now on, everything would be different from what he had seen in the distant past. And, this time, he'll live to see it, with real optics!

It had its pro's, and its cons too: He'd miss the wonderful-yet unfortunately short lived-feeling of the crown of his head...

He followed the others out of Astrotrain, a slight skip in his steps since he had shot his own foot during the attack of Autobot city, a very unfortunate episode he rather not think about anymore.

The fittest ones, mainly the constructicons- since two of their best medics were part of that particular combiners team- were instructed to take care of the less valid mechs, take them to the medbay and tend to their injuries with no delay.

Skywarp and Thundercracker were taken along, still damaged but far less than they should have been if Starscream had not fixed them during the flight back home. He wished he could soon see them up and about.

For Megatron, though, it was an entirely different story. His damages were not merely cosmetic like the seekers' had been, they were also deep and touched important systems, not to mentions a sickening number of primary and secondary energon lines.

The warlord was in a bad state, if you wished to put it in an optimistic way. In a more realist view, you could say Megatron had one foot into oblivion already.

-" Take him to my lab!" Starscream instructed Soundwave. " I'll meet you there" On that, he took off, without waiting for the tape deck's acknowledgement.

The blue Decepticon third in command, who was still carrying an off lined Megatron in his arms, watched the jet fly away with confusion. He knew Starscream very well and was very aware than the seeker was not to be trusted.

Especially not with his leader's life!

He would have ignored the order and taken Megatron to the main medbay where Scrapper or Hook would have been forced to attend to the gunformer as a priority, maybe at the price of the other wounded Decepticons' life.

But something made him hesitate in his decision: This Starscream, the one who had returned with them, was not the one he knew.

Well, he was Starscream, no doubt about that fast: His energy signature did belong to the Starscream he knew. But something was different, something was definitely off with this one: Aside from the obvious change of attitude and his surprising 'caring' behaviour toward his wing mates and Megatron, Starscream had done something he had never done before: He had allowed Soundwave a glimpse of his thoughts.

A very long time ago, shortly after him and Soundwave's first meeting, Starscream had built himself a strong mental barrier to prevent any intrusion, even when in deep recharge or stasis.

The wall had never been lowered, not even once, not even for the shortest moment...

….Until today.

In the seeker's mind he had seen how strongly and genuinely he wanted for Megatron to pull through, as if it was vital for him that his leader survived. Why? The telepath didn't find out yet, because the mental barriers came up as soon as that small information had passed through. There was no doubting the fact Starscream had further, dark motives for his strange behaviour, but only one thing was clear for Soundwave right then: For once, and as improbable as this could be, he could trust Starscream with Megatron's life.

He secured the inert body in his arms and took off not long after the seeker, intending to do as he has been told.

oOoOoOo

The universe was immense, its width a measure of unthinkable proportions. Yet, and even though there existed no such thing as a written destiny, the universe could be a very narrow place for one who knew when and where to be.

He had been observing them for long, eventually learning to know them better than they knew their selves. For a given situation, he could guess and envision the outcome with an average ninety-nine percent accuracy.

Hidden in his own shadow, Unicron waited for his speculations to become an actual reality.

He had seen it all: The surprise attack on Autobot city, the messy assaults of the Decepticon warriors and Optimus Prime's epic fight against his enemy of ever, Megatron.

He had assisted from afar to the fall of the Decepticons' leader and the obvious jubilation of his treacherous and perfidious second in command.

Those two were so predictable! Their game had gone on for eons, power struggles and reconciliations, an ever turning wheel of occasions, power shift and failed attempts, like perfect algorithms. With no doubt, the chaos bringer's ancient brain quickly made out Megatron's more than certain future...

Damaged as he was after his last fight against the Prime- yes, last, because what was left of Optimus' time was a matter of breems- Megatron wouldn't survive his subordinate's cruelty.

And soon, Unicron would step in between him and oblivion to impose his future servitor a forced role in his grand schemes.

Or so this is how things should have been. But for the very first time since a very long time, the planet eater had failed his estimation of the future.

He was surprised, yes, Starscream had kept his hated leader alive. How strange of him.

Uncron's plans would not suffer that un-suspected turn of events, though.

He only needed to find another pawn to manipulate and a new solution to get rid of the Matrix of leadership once and for all!

But he wasn't worried the least: His long centuries of existence had taught him to be very patient.

oOoOoOo

Another long, yet muttered, wail escaped his vocal components.

He could not think of anything else, the scene repeated itself in his mind over and over again. How he acted on impulse, foolishly offering Megatron the shield he needed. Hot Rod pressed his fists against the sides of his head and the image of Optimus Prime being shot again and again by a laughing Megatron while he was used as a shield by the warlord kept playing in front of his optics.

It was all his fault if their leader had now rejoined the Matrix.

Of course, none of the Autobot had blamed him for it, but Hot Rod couldn't have been convinced otherwise.

The others could say all they wanted, Hot Rod knew that he was responsible for Optimus' death. He could as well have terminated him himself for all that could have changed.

He had isolated himself from the others, only for a short moment, he had promised Daniel. He just needed to be alone for a while so he could look pathetic on his own. He had chosen a spot very high, hard to reach so physical exertion could make for a small punishment, then he had sat alone to stare into Space, to be closer to Space.

Little did he know, he wasn't alone.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: There's a lot of Hot Rod in this chapter, but do not get the wrong impression. Starscream is still the hero main character of this story. I simply had this particular plot in mind for Roddy and couldn't do without writing it!

Chapter 4:

The sun had set a while ago, but its light still cast a faint glow in the cracks between dark clouds on the distant horizon. It was beautiful, a sight to behold, and more so for a being who came from a world where no sun ever delivered such a show to its inhabitants' vision.

Unfortunately, Hot Rod was far too engrossed in his remorse-filled introspection to look at it, and he definitely should have been more aware of his surroundings. If not for the view, at least he would have looked up and seen the other approaching. But the menacing presence touched down less than ten mechafeet away from his brooding spot, and Hot Rod remained perfectly oblivious. Until the newcomer spoke, that is.

"What is a pretty face like you doing all alone in such a deserted place?" The voice was melodic, the smirk obvious on the face of its owner. Hot Rod was on his pedes the next instant and swiftly turned to face whoever he was to deal with.

The other observed him, arms crossed over his chest plates, his expression haughty and his stance confident. The red of his optics and the purple symbol printed on his wings told the Autobot what he had already suspected.

"Missed your ride home, Decepticon?" he asked, his weapon pointed at the other.

"You could say that," the mech replied.

Hot Rod couldn't put a name on that face. The ones who had attacked earlier had quite clearly been Megatron's cadre of Decepticons and he roughly knew who they were. Not so much for this one. All he could tell was that he was part of those particular models of fast fliers... the seekers, if he remembered his lessons well. This one was identical in built to his fellows, but he was night black from pedes to helmet with only red optics and a purple insignia to contrast with the plain paint job.

His attitude – by looks alone – wasn't aggressive, but Hot Rod should have known better than to not be wary of a mech only because he didn't seem armed. A canon suddenly swung from the Decepticon's back and shot him with cunning precision.

_Right into my communication system too! _Hot Rod realized, letting out a growl of pain mixed with annoyance.

He fired his weapon but the other moved aside, only a step necessary to dodge the shot, and smiled mockingly at the Autobot.

"I knew I was going to have fun with you!" the black flier stated before he charged on him.

Hot Rod braced for impact by reflex and cursed himself for not having thought of firing instead, but the Decepticon didn't actually hit him. Two clawed hands slid under his armpits and he was lifted in the air, carried by the laughing seeker.

"What are you doing!" the sport car protested. "Let go of me!"

He knew that was useless though. Indeed, the seeker merely laughed more. "Not just yet, Autobot!"

He flew fast and straight upward, taking his helpless charge high in the sky, far above the clouds.

"Now we are going to play a little game, you and I! I haven't given it a name yet, but, basically, I will grant your wish and 'let go of you'..." His grip on Hot Rod loosened slightly and the Autobot's spark lurched in its casing considering the fatal height they had reached. "And the game is... Will you die instantly when you'll crash... Or even before that happens?"

On that, the seeker let go of him and Hot Rod started his deadly free fall. The Decepticon waited a few kliks then dived after him, the twin guns hidden in his arms, plus the one coming from his back, firing at the falling Autobot.

Some of the shots hit the target, some were lost in the air. Hot Rod cried out in pain but resisted the urge to scream in terror as the ground – and his doom – approached too fast. Unable to prevent his fall, he could not even get the leverage to shift his position and fire back at his tormentor; He couldn't do anything else than blindly fire his blaster towards the sky above, hoping to get a lucky shot at the seeker who was still diving after him.

But the sleek flyer moved gracefully out of reach of his blasts and kept his little game on. His shots mostly missed Hot Rod's vital components though, failing to penetrate plating and hitting only minor outer components, as if the seeker didn't want him too damaged. Or was it simply coincidence and was his lucky star shinning down on him? Well, if he could even qualify himself as 'lucky' in such a situation as the one he was currently in!

There was a trail of energon in his wake as he kept falling rapidly with nothing more than air to hold him back. The ground was due to meet him in a matter of seconds. Hot Rod braced himself for impact, for imminent termination and told himself this was what he deserved after all. Yes, this all was a punishment he had to endure for killing Optimus Prime, and what better judgement for a murderer than death itself?

Except that the crash – and death, for that matter – never happened. His attacker caught him before he could as much as touch the ground, his head lightly brushed against the rocks and he was airborne once again.

The seeker's sinister laugh rang in his audio. "Why end the game now when we're having so much fun, don't you agree?" he asked rhetorically before speeding up skyward.

Hot Rod felt too dizzy to comprehend what had just happened and what was about to happen next. There was one thing he knew for sure: He was no more than a toy in this Decepticon's hands and, as much as he hated himself for the events of the day, he wasn't certain he deserved such a humiliation.

This round, he was pulled even higher than before. His equilibrium rendered crazy by vertigo, he was dumped into the void a second time. The game started anew: The seeker dived and fired after him, this time managing to blast the weapon clear off his hand. With his last means of defence gone, he was condemned to endure the 'game' until the other 'player' would grow bored of it and allow him to die either way. He did not delude himself with hopes of rescue: A curfew had been established in Autobot City to make the most of the automated defences now that they were in such a fragile state, and it was too late for any Autobot to be wandering outside or even come to look for him.

The breems that followed were a blur of pain and dizziness for Hot Rod. At the end, he lost count of how many times the seeker caught him before he crashed and flew higher and higher to do the same thing again, or for how long he was fired upon.

When it eventually ended, Hot Rod was swaying on the edge of consciousness. His body was so damaged by the countless hits he had received that he looked nothing like the aesthetically pleasant and colourful robot he had been. More like something, had it only been yesterday, Wheeljack wouldn't have even be able to scavenge spare parts from. For that matter, his internal condition wasn't any better than his external one. His optics were shattered and gone, some of his most sensitive joints and a few minor systems had suffered significant damage including tears, breaks, leaks and burns, and he could feel a crack in his spark casing.

He couldn't move but he could still hear the other's snickers as the seeker let go of him for an umpteenth time. This round, though, he didn't drop into a free fall like before, no, he found himself floating. The Decepticon had brought him so high that he was no longer submitted to Earth's attraction; He was now in the void of space.

His tormentor flew lazily above him. "I hope you have enjoyed the ride!" he said, and Hot Rod seriously hoped he would not be killed by a mech as pathetic as this one. Even the worst of punishments had to have its limits!

"Sadly, I can no longer keep you company. I have my aft plating to polish for you to kiss later!"

Hot Rod didn't even bother to groan at that taunt. He heard the jet fly away, but couldn't see him vanish as if he had never been there at the first place. Hot Rod didn't stay alone for long, though. Soon, he could feel another presence, very different from the previous seeker. An imposing, downright overwhelming and powerful presence that was nothing like what he had encountered before.

"Who...?" he weakly croaked.

Suddenly, he was bathed in a stream of energy, warm and bright. "My name is Unicron." A strong, deep voice engulfed him and reverberated in every functioning relay of his body. Like claws, fear pierced his spark, and he wished he could at least see the other… if only to know when to brace himself for more pain.

"You have nothing to fear, Rodimus Prime," the one named 'Unicron' continued.

"I... I... am not!" Surprised and confused, he tried to explain, to tell the entity that his name was Hot Rod and that he wasn't a Prime at all, but the words clogged inside his vocaliser.

"You are not yet, but it is your inevitable destiny!" Unicron said, as if reading the Autobot's thoughts.

Not that Unicron knew of the future, or of how things were supposed to happen or not – or to have happened for that matter. He just knew how to pull one's strings and Hot Rod was the perfect puppet. Not as perfect as Megatron would have been, of course, but this depressed Autobot would do just fine, for a time.

"Not… possible!" Hot Rod tried to argue and wished his vocaliser would allow more than a few sputtered words.

"You are the one, the only one, who can release the power of the Matrix! Not Ultra Magnus, you!"

Hot Rod listened in confused silence.

"Very soon, the Decepticons will come back with more troops, more energy and fire power! Earth's Autobot and human forces combined will not even stand the assault and Megatron's army will pour down on the planet, enslaving his inhabitants and destroying all who will not be willing to serve their new master. Defeated, the Autobots will be hunted down and terminated to the last one and this will mark the beginning of a Decepticon tyranny that will spread across the entire galaxy and, then, beyond."

If Hot Rod still had his optic sensor ridges, they would be up right now. "H...How? M… Megatron is... terminated!"

"Megatron is not terminated. He's very much alive and already planning your demise! And 'I' am the only one who can stop him... But…"

"But?"

"My powers are confined and cannot be released. For my spark energy to be fully restored, I need the Autobot Matrix of Leadership"

The knowledge that 'Unicron' had a spark made Hot Rod feel more at ease – despite his physical pain – and more comfortable in the entity's presence. Unicron began to seem trustworthy. Certainly, if he tried to help and warned him about an imminent Decepticon attack, this Unicron person was most probably an Autobot like he himself was! Or, that was Hot Rod's logic at that moment...

"...can't ...damaged"

"You are dying," Unicron deadpanned and Hot Rod froze even if he already knew his condition was dire. "I can reverse the process and give you another chance at life"

Hot Rod immediately smiled.

"But in exchange, you'll have to help me restore my spark energy. You will have to bring the Autobot Matrix of Leadership to me."

And there was an unspoken 'or else' at the end of his speech, but Hot Rod, as desperate as he was, didn't hear it.

"Ultra...Magnus?"

"You are the rightful Prime! You are to be given the Matrix! This situation cannot suffer wrong choices or hesitation. Let the Matrix to Ultra Magnus and not only will you be terminated, but all the Autobots and the creatures of Earth will join in your fate!"

What choice did he have? Hot Rod wondered. Of course he wanted to redeem himself for what he had done, and this did sound like the perfect opportunity to do so. But how would he be able to explain this to the others and force Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime's personally appointed heir, to give up the Matrix to a nobody Autobot? Would he have to force his new leader, like Unicron suggested? No, he could not do that...

But if what Unicron told him about Megatron and the Decepticons was true? Then it would be a necessary action to take. He wasn't entirely certain, but also he didn't want to risk so many Autobot and human lives because of a small hesitation.

Also, he didn't want to die just yet, not like this.

"I accept..."

The next instant, he was surrounded by searing heat and for a moment he thought he was being burned to ashes, but the pain subsided before the thought could morph into conviction. There was no more suffering but he did feel extremely weird – as if all his gears were shifting inside and outside of him, as if he was some sort of three dimensional puzzle. His body was not only being repaired, he realized, it was being _changed_.

The process, surprisingly, didn't take long.

"Go and get the Matrix of Leadership!" Unicron's words echoed in his head, but when he onlined his freshly repaired optics, he saw no one around.

Next he knew he was sitting on the very same spot he had been brooding earlier that orn, the Earth's ground firmly under his body. All that had happened to him, the Decepticon attack and his encounter with Unicron, could have passed for some weird dream. Until he looked down at himself and realized that his body was now all purple.

Oh, he would have some serious explaining to do once he'd be back in Autobot City.

OooOooO

Back on Cybertron, matters weren't any less out of normality's spectrum.

There may have been more to Soundwave than the passive and silent persona he appeared to be. But if there was something to be said about him from his look alone and which was true, it was that the communication officer was not an emotional mechanic. Of course he knew of fear and, like most Decepticons, the feeling thrilled him more than anything. It brought about all he needed to be flourish among his comrades. But otherwise, he wasn't easily moved or confused, if he was at all.

But there, in Starscream's laboratory, watching the seeker remove his leader's outer platings piece by piece, he couldn't contain a few shudders of discomfort or suppress a sense of nausea from reaching his consciousness.

But more affecting than the sight of Megatron's bared inner circuitry, was the image of Starscream spending so much energy to save his leader. The seeker was working quickly and efficiently, jaws clenched in concentration. His blue hands were skillfully tearing handfuls of burned or torn components out of the warlord innards, only to plug more life saving devices into the ports left behind. He spoke only to ask – or rather, order – Soundwave to pass him tools, to put something aside or to pull yet another chord from the life saving devices placed around the berth Megatron was laying on.

Megatron's still functional state was due to these machines pumping and cycling energy through his systems, something his damaged energon pump could no longer accomplish. His outer body was so thoroughly maimed that it would have to be entirely re-manufactured and stocks of spare parts would have to be raided to find the numerous components and systems that had to be replaced.

Never Soundwave had never felt as close to being helpless or useless as then. He couldn't as much as start thinking of something that had to be done that Starscream hadn't already thought of and acted upon. In the end, the third in command couldn't do anything but whatever Starscream asked him to do, which he didn't like one bit!

He had always liked to think that he knew the seeker enough to estimate what the second in command was up to. Not that he needed to prod his mind to find out, disregarding for a moment that Starscream never allowed him to anyway, but the red and white seeker was simply that predictable. He was a pathological traitor and that was a constant about him!

But here, all of a sudden, Soundwave couldn't figure Starscream out anymore. It was a new situation, a new behaviour for the seeker, one the telepath couldn't comprehend enough to speculate what the second in command's true objectives were. He had to find a way into Starscream's wicked CPU. For the sake of this army, if not for Megatron, he had to!

The shrieking voice of the obviously agitated seeker pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Soundwave! Are you listening? I need the electroshock generator now!"

He'd been lost so deep in his musings that he had not even realized that they were losing Megatron. He reacted swiftly and pushed the machine in position, wasting no time before he sent a current of millions of volts – as per Starscream's instructions – into their unresponsive patient.

"Again! More!" Starscream shouted over the noise of static. Megatron's brain unit had yet to restart and every klik passing could result into irreparable damage to his CPU.

At the third shock, the brain unit restarted. Starscream decided it was a good idea to hook it up to a pulse regulator. It would keep Megatron's brain function automatically.

Next component that had to be taken care of was the spark casing; There was a crack in it. It looked small and harmless if one looked at it quickly, but a closer inspection showed the wound to be deep and left no doubt the operation would be a delicate one. A small shard of the casing had slipped inside and was now pressed at a most inconvenient perpendicular angle between the casing and the spark itself. If they tried to move it, the shard could enter the spark.

"Probability of termination if attempted to be removed: 73%," Soundwave stated, and Starscream nodded. He needed no elaboration. The termination would be immediate, he knew as much. If the shard entered the spark, its energy would be released instantly. With Megatron's systems unable to control it, the spark's chaotic energy would soon consume itself to extinction.

"How long can he survive if the shard is not removed?" Starscream asked his 'assistant'.

"Duration: Uncertain. Estimation: Two orns if Megatron is kept in stasis and not moved."

Starscream sighed. "I have no choice then. It will have to be removed at some point!"

"Observation: Spark energy control necessary." Soundwave droned the information out. He derived no small comfort in the knowledge he was finally being useful.

Starscream focused his gaze on him, maybe for the first time since he had entered the seeker's laboratory earlier that orn. "Only a perfectly stable spark's energy can keep an uncontrolled spark energy under control!" The seeker retorted. "Where are we going to find a spark that is perfectly stable?" And he had a point. Only a very, very small percentage of the Transformers that were functioning perfectly possessed a perfectly stable spark. They were rare, because each spark was unique and their frequencies and cycles were different for each mechanism. The 'perfect cycle' ( which made for a perfectly stable spark) was something that mostly existed as an indication, used as a reference to gauge one's spark stability.

"Pessimism: Unnecessary." Soundwave replied. "A spark with a stability coefficient close to 5/12 within 0,2/12 units will operate effective control."

5/12 where 5 was the amplitude and 12 the wavelength, was the 'perfect cycle' making for a perfectly stable spark. It was extremely rare and the number of Transformers possessing a spark close to that value didn't make the chances of finding one much higher. A difference of 0,2 in amplitude for the same wavelength was a very small difference. They had perhaps one chance on a million to find someone who would satisfy the criteria.

Starscream sighed, very aware of that fact. "Then, the best course of action would be to test all the soldiers in order to find one suitable for the spark connection. The test will be conducted at once!" Starscream ordered. "Meanwhile, Megatron's damaged systems have to be repaired or rebuilt if necessary. You will inform Hook and his team of all this! Make sure that he'll know that I will tolerate no discussion on the matter!"

"As you command." Soundwave almost froze at his own words. Never had Starscream been able to exert such authority over him, even though he was his superior officer. This time, the blue tape deck had to admit that Starscream's decisions were for once very legitimate and Soundwave couldn't think of anything better to do than to follow the seeker's orders.

"Also, you will conduct the tests. You are the most qualified for this." Starscream informed Soundwave. "I will be available on call for any matter that require attention. And I mean ANY!"

"As you command," Soundwave repeated.

"You can take some time to refuel and check on your cassettes." Starscream's tone softened slightly. "And if you need to recharge..."

"Negative," Soundwave cut in, "Recharge: Unnecessary."

"Well, good then. Inform me as soon as the tests results are known."

"As you command," Soundwave droned out for the third time that same breem. He hoped this wouldn't become a habit.

Starscream nodded once and, after checking that all the machinery connected to Megatron was properly functioning and his leader's state as stable as could be given the circumstances, simply left.

Soundwave watched him leave, then turned his gaze back to Megatron, observed his inert form for a short moment, and eventually exited the lab to do as he had been ordered.

To be continued.

A.N: If you wish to leave a comment ( show of appreciation or critiques are a big part of my motivation to write the next chapter of a story.), I'd love to hear your opinion on the 1986's Transformers movie. What did you like/Didn't like in it? I'm curious.

Another thing: Would you like to see some 'romance' in this fic or not?


	5. Chapter 5

A/N:

I'd like to thank those who reviewed this story! It means a lot, really!

On the question of 'will I insert some 'romance in this story?' (decepticons style! So do not hope for lovey dovey moments) the majority voted yes.

There will be 'romance' (or ' Con-like romance call it what you want) can someone guess who will get their selves involved?

There will be nothing in this chapter though, except if you squint really hard.

Chapter 5:

Starscream cycled a long sigh through his vents as he made his way towards his quarters. It wasn't too far: Since he had exited his lab, he already was at the aisle where his personal rooms were located.

Quickly, he assessed the situation in his head. If his memory didn't fail him, Unicron should not come into the picture before at least two orns. That did not give him a long time to prepare, but at least he knew what to expect from the planet devourer. First, Unicron would attack the moons, then Cybertron itself, but not before the Autobot Matrix of Leadership was effectively out of his way. Now, without a Galvatron to take care of that 'little detail', Unicron would have to find someone else. Since no Decepticon was available for him to make a deal with, that someone else would probably be an Autobot. Probably, but the possibilities were not limited to Cybertronians; Unicron's new pawn could be anyone unfortunate enough to have crossed the Chaos Bringer's path.

But Starscream was positive Unicron would choose an Autobot: To steal or destroy the Matrix, the pawn had to know about the object of his quest – it was obviously the minimal requirement. And who, better than an Autobot, could do the deed?

Starscream knew how he could find out.

He opened a to Soundwave that was almost immediately acknowledged in the tape deck's usual monotone.

/I need you to send one of your cassettes back to Earth. Have the usuals go to the moonbases and infiltrate some Autobot ship heading for the Earth. We need to find out about Optimus Prime's condition./ Granted, Starscream already knew of the ex-Prime's condition, but he could not let the other find out about his knowledge.

/Unnecessary./ Soundwave replied calmly over the comm. /Ratbat: left behind on Earth. Mission: Report on Prime's condition./

/Very well!/ Starscream said, relieved to know that it would be easier than he had thought. / Then you will instruct Ratbat to watch the Autobots' leader closely, whoever that might be if no longer Optimus Prime. Have him give a report on his findings every four groons./ As soon as the information Starscream needed would be revealed, it would be time for Ratbat to return and play back his recordings.

/As you command,/ the blue Decepticon stated. This was getting really too much for one day.

/Thank you, Soundwave,/ Starscream finished the order.

The link was cut and Soundwave, who had been in the Constructicons' medbay, scanning the Decepticons to find whose spark was the most stable, halted in his work. What had Starscream just said to him? "Thank you"?

He shook the confusion off his head, certainly it was only a glitch in his audios.

He quickly relayed the instructions to Ratbat and went on with the task at hands.

Back in the hallway leading to his quarters, Starscream smiled to himself. Things would go smoothly; he had faith. All the cassette had to do was stay around Ultra Magnus, the new Matrix bearer at this time as he had learned long ago during his possession of Cyclonus, and watch out for anyone who would act suspicious around Optimus Prime's heir. Once Ratbat's reports would give evidences of such activities, Starscream would call him back to Cybertron and find out exactly what had happened in the Autobots' base.

A piece of oil cake, as Reflector would say.

Unicron himself would remain the only genuine problem, yet Starscream wasn't too worried... Okay, maybe a little, but he knew he'd find something when the time would come to face the planetformer.

Now, what was that strange feeling that bothered him suddenly?

He almost didn't comprehend the weird sensations when they came, only that something was hampering his functions. He needed – How long has it been since he had last needed anything? – energon and recharge. He had forgotten how it felt to be subjected to basic bodily needs such as fatigue and hunger, having not experienced those for millennia. Being alive had its downsides along its perks.

It was okay, though, he still had time. An energon dispenser and a good berth were waiting for him. He smiled in anticipation to get to drink from the fine brew he kept in his private quarters, a taste he had honestly missed.

He checked his chronometer, content to have one of those useful pieces of equipment again, and realized something that hit him with a wave of morbid nostalgia. _This is the moment I first died. _

Suddenly, he could hear them again, the trumpets praising his short-lived glory. They re-sounded in his mind, the symphony just as vibrant as then, and he briefly off-lined his optics to savour the memory of a golden crown being placed on his head. The quintessence of his life, an instance of satisfaction that fullfilled millions of years of struggle, it had – almost – been worth paying the highest price for his treachery.

He shook his head to clear his mind. It was another life, one that he could not forget, but that had never happened in this plane of existence. He had to choose a life over a crown. It wasn't that big a sacrifice after all.

...It wasn't like the crown was forever out of reach.

Not even an eternity could have eroded his lust for power. But he had learned the value of patience and knew that heaven could wait.

Good-spirited, he eventually found himself at his door. There, apparently waiting for him and looking very sheepish, were Skywarp and Thundercracker.

After a very short moment of surprise, Starscream greeted them with a smile. "You look fine," he observed. "That is good."

It was a relief for him to think that, in this universe, there would be no Cyclonus or Scourge. He would not have to cringe at the sight of the Sweeps anymore, those grotesque parodies of Seekers created by Unicron. To him, they were no less than an offence to the philosophy and purpose of his model. He hated, truly despised what the Chaos Bringer had done to his wing mates, and more so because it has been his own mistake that had allowed those to be spawned.

He passed them by to key the access code to his room, thankful that he still remembered it. As the door slid aside to give him way, he realized that his seekers hadn't moved at all: They were still in the hallway staring at him as if they had something to as,k but wouldn't dare to.

"If you have something to tell me, then come in," Starscream said in a tone that was not aggressive or commanding. He motioned for them to enter, then went straight for the energon dispenser. The mere sight of the energon made him feel better already, He filled a cube for himself, then after a second thought, filled two more and gave them to his confused wing mates.

He sat on his berth, which was the most comfortable seat around, and lightly moved the cube in his hand. He watched for a brief moment as the purple liquid swirled and sparkled with bright pink nuances inside of its receptacle.

The two others were glancing at each other a little awkwardly. Neither of them seemed to want to talk first. "So what is it you wanted?" Starscream asked calmly, slowly growing annoyed by their behaviour. He wanted to savour his energon and then recharge. He needed the peace the sanctuary that was his private quarters offered.

Skywarp pinched Thundercracker hard. He had probably tried to be discrete about it, but discretion had never been the purple seeker's forte, and Thundercracker let out a indignant squeal. Starscream tilted his head on the side, his fingers tapping against the berth's edge, an indication of his impatience.

"Skywarp told me that you saved us during the travel back from Earth," Thundercracker eventually spilled out.

"Yes. What about it?" Starscream took a sip from his cube. Oh, he had missed that taste! He felt the liquid pour down his pipes and replenish his tanks, a wonderful sensation he had long forgotten.

"Why have you done that?"

The air commander lifted a brow. "Why wouldn't I have done that?"

"You never do something out of altruistic motives, Starscream!" Skywarp finally deigned to enter the discussion.

"And you never use such big words." Starscream smirked. "I guess there's a beginning for everything."

The red seeker drank more from his cube and Thundercracker chuckled at Skywarp's offended expression.

"No, seriously, we know that you will eventually ask something in return for your good care. So what will it be?" Thundercracker continued.

"Yeah, spill it now while we are still feeling grateful! What do you want from us?" his purple pal added.

Starscream finished his cube and licked the last remnants of energon from his lips. He had needed this so badly.

" What if I simply wanted you to survive? Is that so hard to believe?" he replied casually.

The two seekers pondered the question in silence, their optics searching his.

Skywarp shrugged and Thundercracker didn't seem too convinced either. "You've never done that before, for anyone," Skywarp said.

"Or only out of interest," the blue seeker interjected.

Starscream sighed. That was true and he couldn't deny it. But it was all part of another life for him, and if he had requested another chance, it was to prove everyone- and especially himself- that he could change. That, of course, wouldn't be easily believed or accepted by the others. One could not erase more than five millions years of selfish and unfriendly behaviour with only a few altruistic actions.

"Well, you will have to accept this," Starscream said, not looking at them. "You two and I go back a long time, are three of the last dwindling few of the citizens of Vos that remain. We are becoming all that is left of our once magnificent city, its very memory kept in our names. And, if you don't want to admit that I didn't let you bleed to death in the shuttle because I care, then at least tell yourself that I did that to preserve what is left of our origins and the memory of Vos."

Thundercracker and Skywarp stared at him with surprise-mixed shock, then looked down. Nostalgia and the smallest hint of sadness showed on their face and optics. They remained silent for a moment until, eventually, Thundercracker looked up at his air commander.

"You haven't mentioned Vos since we last gazed upon its ruins. Back then, I had the impression you did not care at all… You seemed to have moved on so easily."

"I had to..." Starscream said softly. The sadness in his voice sounded genuine enough, but Thundercracker and Skywarp knew better than to trust their commander's apparent emotions.

"I had to," Starscream continued, "or our enemies' victory would have been complete."

He felt really tired now, he wanted to lie down and sleep at last. How long had it been since he last slept? Many millions of lifetimes for certain.

"You know," he said, as if he was talking to no one in particular, "if the war happens to end at some point, with me or Megatron as your leader, I'll have Vos rebuilt. Yes, I'd want that."

"Are you serious?" both Thundercracker and Skywarp asked out loudly.

"I could promise, would you see any value in that?" Starscream knew his promises had always been like his pledges of loyalty: Worthless and so easily forgotten.

The two seekers, who had apparently come to the same conclusion, kept silent and resisted the urge to give their commander a mocking smile. Starscream groaned and stood, a few of his joints wincing as he moved to place his empty cube in the recycle bin.

" It doesn't matter if you believe me or not for now. You'll see for yourself when the time is there. Now...!" He made a gesture with his hand toward the exit, but his smile was playful. "Leave me be. I need the few precious groons of recharge I can afford to take!"

Both seekers placed their untouched energon cubes aside and stood up from their seat, used as they were to follow orders on the spot. But once they were standing, they hesitated to leave just like this. Skywarp looked at Thundercracker insistently and their facial expression changed several times, as if they were having some kind of silent discussion, which was probably the case.

Starscream watched them with curiosity, wondering just how deep their mutual friendship really went. After a short moment of silent deliberation, Thundercracker turned towards Starscream.

"We don't know how genuine your nostalgia for Vos is, Starscream, or how much you actually care about us... but, anyway... know that we are sincerely grateful for what you did today, commander." He finished with a little smile and a respectful nod. Skywarp did the same and they took their leave.

Starscream waited for them to be gone before he let a true smile of happiness reach his lips. _I can do this_, he promised himself. He could not remember a time in the past when this had happened, so he decided this was a first occurrence: The first time he truly cared about another individual's opinion towards himself.

oOoOoOo

They stood in silence, unsubstantial and side by side, as the universe shifted irreparably around them.

In the distance, yet another solar system was swallowed by a black hole. That was quite an eye-catching sight, to witness that star sucked in the anti-matter vortex. The pull of the black hole's core getting too powerful for the stellar material, the fading star was soon ripped apart. But right before the actual destruction happened, the star emitted an abrupt burst of high-radiation energy, a long flare of ultraviolet and x-ray light.

If the space hadn't been made of void, they could have heard the last screeching noise the condemned star made when its energy flared out: A scream that would have echoed through the galaxy. (1)

Starscream let out a huff of derision.

"Either my creator was such a visionary that he foresaw my ultimate fate or this is just ironic. To say I will die like this star and live up to my name at last..." he commented after the 'show' was over. Nothing was left of the debris besides that back hole which continued on its path, unperturbed.

Primus looked down at the dead seeker, a small smile on his translucent features. "You will be the last spark of energy in this universe, and I know that you derive no little pride out of that fact."

Starscream said nothing, but his smug smile told it all for him.

"Have you found what you were looking for?" Primus enquired softly after a moment of thoughtful silence.

"Not yet. But this is far from over... I made a few big steps towards what I consider to be a great improvement, and I still don't know how things will evolve but I can tell you..." He was cut by Primus's energy touching his in a way equivalent to a slight tap on the shoulder.

"Be careful," the god warned calmly. "We are no longer alone."

The dead seeker followed Primus's gaze. There, standing not too far behind them, seemingly very shocked even though his facial features were designed to hide emotions, was Soundwave.

Starscream bared his teeth at the intruder. "What are you doing here? You don't belong here!"

He extended a hand and his mental barriers immediately went up, pushing Soundwave roughly out of his subconscious.

Starscream woke up and sat up straight. Soundwave was there, in his quarters, stumbling back awkwardly away from him.

"How dare you?" Starscream roared at him. He was on his pedes in an instant, his twin arm-mounted rifles pointed at the blue Decepticon. "I should terminate you for this!"

By reflex, Soundwave put his hands in front of himself in a defensive gesture. "Apologies. Plead: Mercy."

"Why should I? You have violated my head!" Starscream walked towards him and forced Soundwave to step back until his back collided with the wall.

"Finding: Insignificant. Realisation: Only a dream." Soundwave crossed his hands over his chest, obviously wanting to protect his spark from a possible blast from Starscream's cannons.

"You prodded my mind while I was in recharge, what else did you expect to see?" The red seeker moved even closer to the tape deck. Not close enough to actually touch, but enough so that the other could feel the heat radiating from him.

"Facts: Starscream's behaviour towards Megatron: Unusual . Personal response: Confusion. Purpose of mind-prodding: Obtain answer."

Starscream stepped back a little; He didn't like to be that physically close to someone. "Is that so? Just because I didn't act like a treacherous jerk, it made you suspicious?"

"Affirmative!"

"Well, be at peace!" Starscream sighed. "I have no other intention than ensure our leader will survive!"

"Observation: Starscream, always up to something. Always wants leadership for himself."

"Observation: You've 'observed' me well!" Starscream mocked him. "And you are right! I still want to become your leader, someday... just... not now. Not like this!"

Soundwave said nothing, but tilted his head on the side questioningly.

Starscream sighed. He was pissed off to have been disturbed in the middle of his recharge, angry towards himself to have let his defences down, but he wanted to settle things now. He would have too much on his hands in the next orns, he knew that for sure. And he certainly didn't need to add a suspicious Soundwave to the picture! He had no other option but a talk with the telepath, an honest explanation that would ease the mech's suspicions for good. Was it worth doing this during his allotted recharge time? Well, it was not the last sacrifice he'd have to make, no doubt!

"Megatron was broken, almost terminated after his fight against Prime," Starscream explained. "How grand would that have been, to take advantage of his condition to seize an opportunity to become the new leader? Who would have acknowledged me as their rightful commander after that? Tell me, who?"

"Estimation: Enough," Soundwave answered even though it had been a rhetorical question.

"Enough, yes, hypocrites or opportunistic fools! But none of them would have respected me like they respect Megatron. I've been thinking and now I understand a few things. Leadership is not something that can be offered by chance or destiny. It is something that must be deserved and taken with a fair hand!"

As Soundwave kept silent, the seeker went on.

"I'll become the new leader the day I prove myself as such, to the Decepticons and to Megatron. Then I will have gained respect from you, all of you, including Megatron. Either he will relinquish leadership to me as his heir or I will have bested him in a fair fight! Anyway, as long as he will lead us, I will remain his right-hand mech and this until he dies or I become a better soldier than he is."

"Probability: Shaky. Suspicions: Unaffected," Soundwave stated after a moment of reflection.

Starscream frowned at him, anger shining in his optics. He knew what he had to do to prove himself to the telepathic mech, but he didn't like that at all. The very thought of it disgusted him.

Yet, he had no other choice.

"If you don't believe my words, then look into my spark since it can never tell lies."

Soundwave hesitated a moment. He didn't want to risk a shot from the moody second-in-command. Starscream's burst of anger at his recent prodding was too fresh a memory.

But his doubts dissipated once Starscream opened his chest plates and bared his spark before the blue mech's optics. "I will lower my spark's fire walls and protections." The red seeker said through gritted teeth. "Dare touch it and yours will be extinguished the next instant!"

Oh, he hated to have to do this, but it was necessary to convince Soundwave: He didn't want him to infiltrate his head at any of the many occasions the tape deck would get. He had his mental barriers in place most of the time, but he couldn't always control them, especially when not he was in recharge and dreaming. It was unthinkable to give Soundwave even a tiny chance to read his mind and discover the extent of his data banks' content: About six billions of years of memories that were not supposed to exist, knowledge of a future no one other than himself could be allowed to gaze upon.

Soundwave stared at the brilliant orb of swirling energies before him. He had seen sparks before, but this one was exceptionally intense to look at. It was so bright, so lively, a spark befitting his owner. It was beautiful too, very beautiful, but this was not an appropriate thought to have.

Mentally shaking himself out of his trance, Soundwave moved his face closer and focused on Starscream' s spark core.

He could read minds better than he could read sparks. Most of the time, he couldn't read spark at all, unless the subject of his analysis was conscious and cooperative, such as now. Starscream allowed him to read his spark and not his mind for the simple reason that a spark cannot show precise or clear thoughts, but only feelings. And now, what Soundwave was to look for was evidence, proof of blatant honesty.

"Request: Repeat explanation."

"I'll become the new leader the day I prove myself as such..." Starscream repeated all of what he had said earlier. As he was talking about his intentions to remain Megatron's second-in-command until the gunformer would die or Starscream would become a better soldier than he, something in his spark was revealed to Soundwave.

The telepath straightened himself shortly after the seeker stopped speaking and Starscream swiftly hid his spark back inside his chest.

"Starscream: Telling the truth."

The seeker huffed, feeling not really at ease after what just happened. What a pity he had to resort to such radical solutions to get a point across.

"Now that you have your answers, can I hope for you to leave me in peace?" he asked, a little more harshly than he had intended.

Soundwave gave him a nod, much similar to the ones Thundercracker and Skywarp had given him earlier. "Further disturbance: Unnecessary. Apologies: Renewed. I will be awaiting orders, commander."

"Have you found someone who possesses the required parameters for the spark-control?" Starscream asked, purposefully changing the topic, not wanting to bother himself further with threat and/or apologies acceptance.

"All Decepticons scanned with the exception of the units still undergoing repairs, the Constructicons, as well as Thundercracker, Skywarp and yourself. A few soldiers reach nearly acceptable values of spark stability, ranging from 0,8 to 0,4 units of amplitude away from perfect value." (2)

"It cannot be more than 0,2 units of amplitude away from the perfect value!" Starscream retorted. "Let's hope that one of the remaining soldiers will satisfy that requirement."

Soundwave had been ready to drone out yet another order acknowledgement, but before he could do so, the red seeker addressed him again. "This can wait the next orn. You should go to your quarters and take a few groons of recharge. Tomorrow promises to be another long orn!"

For the umpteenth time that orn, Soundwave found himself slightly shocked by Starscream's words. Even though he should have been used to Starscream's new programming by now, he was still not expecting the seeker to act like he did care about someone else's well-being. That was completely new, but Soundwave had the feeling the he could easily come to appreciate that new aspect of the second-in-command. With a last nod, he exited Starscream's room.

Starscream watched him go, then checked his chronometer and sighed. Almost one whole groon of good recharge had been lost to that most unpleasant 'discussion'. He checked the lock on his door, knowing he'd have to change the code once again later on, and returned to his berth. If he was lucky, he could still get nearly three groons of much needed sleep.

oOoOo

Soundwave was grateful for the time of rest he was allowed to take. He had to admit that the past orn had been among the most eventful he had experienced in his life: The attack on the shuttle, the raid against Autobot City, the messy battle, the long travel back to Cybertron, the groons passed trying to keep his leader alive and then the tedious task to scan every Decepticon one by one, all that adding to the stress caused by Starscream's new and strange behaviour... One had to admit, such was too much for a single orn.

The blue mech keyed the code to his room and entered in silence, cautious not to disturb the recharge of those who shared his private quarters. He looked at the three cassettes lying on the bench outside of his bedroom, a smile hidden within his mouth plate. As he passed them by to reach his room, one of them spoke.

"Boss? Where have you been?" Rumble asked after transforming into his bi-pedal mode.

"Advice: Return to recharge!" Soundwave replied lowly.

But the little blue robot was too curious to leave it at that. "Did you discover things about the Screamer? Has he lost it at last?"

Soundwave's visor flashed once in annoyance.

"Order: Show more consideration for your superiors."

"Pff, as if you ever considered the Screamer for more than his worth as spare parts!" Rumble laughed and attempted a failed grotesque imitation of Starscream doing some grimace.

"Personal realisation," Soundwave droned a bit more loudly, "Starscream: More worthy than previously estimated. Opinion on Starscream: Improved. Order: Sleep now!"

To make it clear that the conversation was over, Soundwave added nothing, walked to his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

"Now who would have thought 'that' would ever happen!" Rumble declared to no one, huffed mockingly and went back to cassette mode to resume his recharge.

TBC

Thank you for reading! Now, some infos:

more about the phenomenon referenced as 'Screaming star' http: / . ( if the link doesn't work, then just google 'screaming star)

Explanations on spark-control and spark stability, see end of chapter 4.


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N**: Yes the story lives! And, this time, I hope I'll remain inspired.

I don't know if people are still following this, but given the big (unforgivable) gap in time between last update and this one, it would be better for you to re-read the story from the start if you want to understand what is happening in this chapter.

Before the end of times, Chapter 6: The second day.

There was a spectacular explosion and an intense blinding light. Its impossible radiance suddenly lightening up the whole of the galaxy.

The next instant, it was dark, empty.

And nothing remained.

The massive black-hole proceeded on, unaware and uncaring of the tragedy it had just left in its wake.

"This was the brightest star in existence." Starscream stated bitterly. "His magnitude was, by far, unmatched. And to say the power of its core was yet to be measured...By anyone, even myself...So much unknown and potentially valuable data and information, forever lost...What a pity!"

Reverently, the ghost-seeker bowed his head, casting optics he no longer had downward. As a meager attempt at comforting the sullen mech, Primus gently extended his energies toward his helm and shoulders in a light caress, which made Starscream's non-existent lips quirk upward slightly. But it was what the God said then, that made him look back up.

"This was not the brightest star in existence." He precised. "not even close to it actually."

That said, the God amused himself with the expression Starscream made as he looked up at him. The billions-years old seeker suddenly looked as hopeful and naive as a new-born. "Really?" He asked, his sound-less voice colored with the same emotions his face reflected.

"You have seen a lot" Primus uttered with a nod and a small, fond smile. "And yet, you have seen nothing." At those words, the ghost's face contorted in displeasure and unhidden offense.

" I have traveled through space- and even through time-for millenniums!" Starscream defended himself. " I have seen a lot more than you can imagine! Billions of solar systems, thousands of galaxies!"

"And what you have seen, while traveling so long, was only but a fraction of the Universe." Primus flashed his energies at his last protege, bathing him with comfort the only way he could provide it, given his own disembodied state.

Starscream welcomed the embrace and thought the God's words over as he basked in the divine essence.

His seemingly endless wandering about had buffed a few flaws away from him, such as greed and impulsive temper. But no expend of time, not even an eternity, could have snuffed Starscream's interest in science and need for always more knowledge, which was just as strong as his thirst for power. All this time, while he had visited many planets, he also had- secretly - infiltrated a fair amount of scientific bases and research facilities.

He had sneaked inside labs and had watched scientists work. He had marveled at their findings and discovered laws of physics he didn't even know of, each professor or scientist he followed seemed better-equipped and more advanced than the last. Starscream learned a lot from them, even if they never knew they had a student. He enjoyed the irony of it and basked in his own amusement.

He no longer had sensors to feel physical touches, but emotions and feelings could sometimes wrap themselves around his spark like tangible blankets, where irony was the softest fabric of all.

From time to time, it happened that one of the scientist he watched came to a point they could no longer proceed in their experiments or theories, because they had reached the far end of their knowledge and understanding. Sometimes, Starscream had the solution to their problem; he knew how to solve an unknown in their equations or which substance they needed to use to provoke the desired chemical reaction. But he never shared these solutions, no. Instead, he amused himself with the scientists' despair and kept his knowledge preciously to himself.

Because of his unchanged condition and his reluctance to start living anew in someone else's body, he never got to use the valuable discoveries he made during that period of time. But that was fine, since he was just content to own the extensive knowledge he had acquired, and which he thought made him the most educated being in the Universe.

And at the same time, the prolonged experience made him realize how ignorant he had been, back when he was still alive and thought he knew everything about_ everything._

But, despite the sizable infusion of knowledge he had received, there was still something he didn't know...

Although some of the scientists he had followed at that time made discoveries that went far beyond any known level of knowledge, there was still one data none of them had ever been able to measure or transform into an equation. That particular data was...

"...The size of the Universe" Starscream whispered, having finished the tale of his experience to the deity.

Primus smiled lovingly as he listened to the seeker's story. swirling his energies around Starscream gently, he felt the urge to do something for him.

Starscream was the last of his children. And, despite his past actions and unforgivable sins, he still deserved the pride of his father. Perhaps wasn't it too late for the ancient God to share the last morsel of power he still owned? Oh, it wasn't much, it was nothing the seeker could use, but it was a very precious secret. Primus had been reluctant to give it away before, but now he could only admit that keeping it for himself would be a waste. What was the utility of an important secret if it remained forever untold?

"Listen well, Starscream. I have something very important to tell you" Primus started on, in a formal tone, his decision made at last. His energies gently recoiled to preserve the solemnity of the the instant and Starscream was left in the cold of emptiness momentarily.

His spark disapproved of the loss but he paid it no heed; he understood the seriousness of the situation. His optics focused on the God's grave face expectantly and, patiently, he waited. Primus resumed his speech, "What I am going to tell you now is the greatest secret of all, may you use it wisely." He paused for effect and, as Starscream slowly nodded for him to continue, the god indulged him. "There's only one truth that applies to every being in the universe and every world in existence: That truth is-"

"Starscream!"

"Wake up!"

"Starscream?"

He woke up with a start and an abrupt intake of air, feeling as breathless as if he had just resurfaced from an air-tight containment. The other reality vanished from his consciousness like a dream, and Primus' words were lost to him.

Starscream sat up on his berth, confused for the few nanoseconds he needed to realize where he was. He blinked and finally looked up at Skywarp who was staring back at him confusedly.

"What?" He croaked out. "What are you doing here and why did you wake me up?"

"It's the seventh groon already..." The purple seeker replied, obviously feeling ill-at-ease to be alone in his commander's quarters, and more so since said-commander had just been awaken from a too-short recharge. "I knocked but you didn't answer...And the door wasn't locked, so I came in and...Ah..Soundwave sent me to fetch...I mean...pass a message to you."

"What message?" Starscream asked, rubbing the sleepiness away from his face. He stood up and quickly downed a cube of energon, hating to be rushed. He who hadn't slept for eons, wished only for right five additional minutes of recharge. He'd have other occasions to enjoy mornings later on, he promised himself. Or not, but still...possibly.

"He said he's found someone for the spark control. He's waiting for you in your lab." Skywarp watched dumfounded as his Air commander froze and sagged in relief the next instant. He found that weird, which wasn't surprising: 'Screamer' was always weird those days. Yet, that didn't mean his subordinate had gotten used to it.

Starscream grabbed his wing mate by the hand and dragged him along as he rushed out and in the halls. We can't afford losing time, he reminded himself as he pulled Skywarp toward his lab, excited at the discovery. In all truth, he had almost lost hope for Soundwave to find the perfect 'donor' among the troops.

"Did he tell you who that someone is?" He asked the other seeker, who stumbled to follow.

"Ah yeah..." Skywarp gasped, his shoulder-mounted vents panting quietly. "It's me."

Starscream turned around so abruptly at the statement, that the purple seeker couldn't stop himself in time to avoid the collision with his wing-leader. He would have stumbled down and fallen in a very undignified manner if the Air commander hadn't caught him. "You?!"

"Yeah...me." Skywarp shrugged, obviously unaware of what awaited him.

"He picked you, of all mechs, to operate a spark control on Megatron!" Starscream said, his voice rising in anger and pitch. What he had lost in the past, who he had killed in the past and unknowingly given to Unicron so the un-maker could forever deform and disfigure, he was certainly not willing to lose again now!

He was no certified medic, and his extensive repair-skills didn't reach as far as to allow him to operate around a mech's spark. But he did know the theory and was aware of the possible consequences of a failed spark-control. He knew a failed procedure had 78% chance to end up with the termination of both sparks and he didn't want to lose Skywarp and Megatron at the same time.

"Come!" Starscream grabbed his wing mate again, pulling him down the halls without further explaining. "There must be another solution!"

* * *

Meanwhile, on Earth,

Hot rod woke up in his own quarters, alone and in the dark.

For a moment, he couldn't remember what happened the night before, and he was about to go back to recharge when the lights automatically went on, just like he had programmed them to, every morning since he was on Earth.

The purple color of the servo his head was resting on reminded him of it all.

_The Decepticons, the assault., Megatron...Optimus!_

The young Autobot sat up and buried his face in his hands._ Optimus Prime!_ _He died...All by my fault!_

His hands balled into fists, which he pressed against his helm as if he wanted to pound the accusation into his processor. _" All my fault, all my fault!"_

He remembered that he had wanted to die for this, not bearing the realization he could never make up for the unforgivable crime, and he had almost succeeded too._ The unknown Decepticon seeker..._And the pain to be shot at, at least a thousand times over, he remembered it. He could almost feel it on his frame again, within his parts and components, and into every wire of his recently rebuilt body.

_Unicron._ His broken optics hadn't allowed him to see his savior, but he had heard him, accepted the deal he proposed then, in exchange for survival, in exchange for a second chance to make up for what he'd done to Optimus.

All he had to do was to bring the Matrix to Unicron, which, of course, also meant he had to take it from the new Prime first.

After his miraculous repairs and upon his return to Autobot city, Hot rod had attempted to explain all this to Ultra-Magnus. He had told the Prime everything he knew about Unicron and the dreadful prediction the being had shared with him. But Ultra-Magnus, in all fairness, hadn't been ready to hear about mysterious strangers, senseless predictions or flashy paint job fashion.

"I share your sorrow." he had told Hot Rod with a little pat on the shoulder. "But you needn't worry about the Decepticons, not for some time anyway; their leader certainly has off-lined and his subordinates must be fighting over his throne as we speak."

"And what if he were still on-line?" Hot Rod had retorted, his determination to be heard hadn't faltered yet, then.

"Many liked to compare Megatron with the Fallen..or some other kind of supernatural, immortal monster." Ultra-Magnus said with a sad smile. "But at the end he was just a mech and he died. It couldn't be otherwise, given what was left of him when his soldiers carried him away."

Hot Rod's resolve and beliefs had crumbled under the wise, logical explanation that only competed his own memory of the day's events. He had been close enough to Megatron to see for himself how badly damaged the Decepticon was then.

_How could the Decepticons be a menace now that the 'Lord of Kaon' is no longer there to lead them?_He wondered.

And then it occurred to him that, perhaps, that Unicron person had worse intentions than Hot rod thought...

"**Rodimus Prime!" **A voice suddenly spoke, filling his head with its intensity. Hot rod fell back on his berth, feeling like he had just been struck by the lightning. His pain receptors screamed in alarm, but he just whined feebly. _Unicron? _

"**Do my biding, Rodimus Prime!"** The voice boomed again. It hurt even more, Hot rod moaned a bit louder, feeling like his helmet was going to crack under the tension the presence in his head exerted.

"**Bring me the matrix!" **The voice ordered, pushing against the inside of his cranium like an hydraulic spreading machine would. Hot Rod held his head in his hands in a fruitless attempt to relieve the pain and gasped loudly.

"Unicron!" He called. "I...It hurts!"

"**Bring me the matrix!"** The merciless voice repeated, and this time it felt a lot like his very mind was torn apart. He screamed.

"I will! I will! Please, make it stop!" He pleaded, rolling around on the berth. But it didn't stop and the soundproofed walls swallowed his screams of agony. There was nothing he could do about the pain. It was in his head, eating his sanity away.

"**And remember well, Rodimus! You are the only rightful Prime!" **The planet-devourer spoke a few last hammer-like words and seeped out of the Autobot's head, leaving burned components and dark codes on his way out. Hot Rod slowly and carefully stood up when the pain subsided, leaving only but a ghost of its presence.

He never saw the light shade of purple his blue optics had taken, and was never aware of how dull they looked as he exited his quarters.

He needed to find Ultra-Magnus, _now_.

The Autobot base had woken up slowly and reluctantly after what had been a very short night for most, if not all, its inhabitants. Optimus Prime had passed away the previous day. The memory of his death was still fresh and painful in everyone's mind, including those who hadn't been there when the hero had surrendered his spark to Primus.

They had pulled out of what little recharge they had managed to get, with sorrow-filled processor and a heavy spark.

Within the base and outside of it, everyone seemed to walk, work and go through their daily chores and habits in slow motion. The atmosphere was heavy with sadness under a clear blue sky and a brilliant spring sun no one had to spark to appreciate. They were mourning.

No one paid attention to Hot rod as he made his way through the halls, even thought the color of his armor had changed distinctively since the previous day. They were too engrossed in their grieving to notice how different he looked or how strangely he walked, his back-strut rigidly straight and his face, devoid of emotion.

* * *

Back on Cybertron, in Starscream's laboratory and Megatron's temporary medbay, an argument was about to take place.

"What is it that I hear, Soundwave? You chose Skywarp for the spark-control procedure?!" Starscream demanded as soon as he erupted in the room, furious, unannounced but very much awaited.

Soundwave had been helping Hook with Megatron's repairs before the seeker's arrival. When Starscream entered, his mood quite stormy and his wings perked up high, the communication officer looked up at him calmly.

The Starscream who stood there, aggravated, fuming and seemingly ready to launch a (loud) verbal assault, was far more familiar to the tape-deck than the strange red seeker he had dealt with the previous day.

"Greetings, commander Starscream." Soundwave nodded, unaffected by the second-in-command's outburst of- obvious- dissatisfaction. " State problem?"

Hook, who had witnessed that kind of exchange on countless occasions and could no longer be bothered by them, resumed his work on the Decepticon warlord, content to be left in relative peace for the time being. Skywarp remained where he was and fidgeted in silence, wondering what he was doing there.

As for Megatron, he couldn't care less about loud noises, so deep in stasis as he was.

"State problem?" Starscream repeated while trying to smother his own anger. "I learn that you have picked a candidate for the spark-control procedure without my assent, that's the problem!"

"Purpose of your presence here: ask for assent." Soundwave explained before starting on what he had been supposed to tell Starscream in the first place. "Skywarp: matches requirement for spark stability; 5/12 with amplitude of 0,18 units away from perfect value."

"Are you certain he is the best suited among all of us? Have you really tested everybody's spark?" Starscream asked. He couldn't let Soundwave know about his reluctance to let his own wing-mate undergo the dangerous procedure. Favoritism was a leader's worst flaw!

"Further testing of troop: No longer necessary." Soundwave by-passed the question skillfully. "Perfect subject: has been found already."

"You have to know one important thing, Soundwave." Starscream letured patiently, his wings shifting back to their default position as he calmed down. "'Good enough' is not 'perfect', and therefore, 'Good enough' is not sufficient." The red seeker explained. The communication officer remarked that Starscream had reverted back to his 'new- confusingly calm-self', which was unsettling, yet highly convenient.

"All officers and patients: Have been tested to one exception." He precised.

"Which is myself, of course." Starscream deduced, aware that he was yet to be scanned.

"Affirmative" Soundwave confirmed. Not awaiting the command, he reached out for his discarded scanner and brought it in front of Starscream's chest.

Hook looked up in curiosity and even Skywarp appeared less bored all of a sudden. After Starscream's tantrum and all that had transpired in the conversation, the purple seeker was no longer convinced of his decision to participate in what didn't exactly sound like a routine operation.

The communication officer held his scanner against the second-in-command's plating but did nothing more, he waited. As nothing happened, he looked up at the seeker. " Assent?" he inquired.

"Go ahead." Starscream said with a light gesture of the hand, not afraid of such a simple and painless test.

When he was done, Soundwave placed the tool back where he first picked it.

Hook, who had been silent since the beginning of the exchange, felt like saying something, so he asked: " How much is he at?"

" Unit of amplitude away from perfect referenced stability: zero-point-zero-zero-one."

"You see, Soundwave..." Starscream said with a barely-there enigmatic smirk. " Why settling for 'good enough' when you can have 'nearly perfect'?"

"Starscream: Willing to participate in spark-control procedure?" Soundwave asked. His processor computed a figure of 5% chance that the seeker would agree. He almost shorted out when, a short moment later, Starscream gave a positive answer. Needless to say, no one had expected it, and the mechs present in the lab stood shocked at the red seeker's quick reply.

"Of course, I will." He said, looking as willing as one could possibly be.

"Fine!" Hook commented, entering the conversation. He cleaned his hands with an overused rack before throwing it into a basket full of dirty pieces of fabric. "Then I suggest we do it as soon as possible. We've already lost enough time as it is."

"When will you be ready?" Starscream inquired. An uneasy feeling crept up along his spinal-strut and his wings trembled imperceptibly.

"I am ready right now." Hook said, gesturing to an empty berth placed next to Megatron's. "Lay down on your back, I'll be there right away."

As he moved to do as instructed, Starscream carefully kept his emotions in check. He couldn't let them reach his face. In all truth, he didn't felt nearly as confident as he wished to appear. He wasn't exactly afraid. After all, why should he be? He already knew that, whatever happened during the procedure, he wouldn't die. But he was apprehensive still, for he knew he would have to cheat somewhat, just like Hook would probably do, when he'd declare he had already done such a procedure before.

Also, there was the matter of the act itself. There would be two sparks involved in something akin to foreplay, and even if the medical procedure wasn't sexual in nature, Starscream couldn't convince himself of that fact. He didn't know how to feel about it either, a little curious, perhaps? Apprehensive, certainly.

"have you read all the details of this operation, Starscream?" Hook asked as he came back with a medical table on which he had placed some instruments and devices. "If you did, then I trust you are aware of the requirements applying to the donor."

"Of course, I am aware of them." Starscream retorted, doing his best not to look as nervous as he felt while watching the medic prepare his tools.

"So? Do you satisfy to the all the criteria?"Hook carefully lifted the seeker's head and placed it on some kind of upraised support. That done, he turned back to his torture table, picked up a probe and connected it to the socket at the back of Starscream's neck.

"I do." The air commander quickly replied. "What's that for?" he asked, wary of the probe and irritated by the touch of it.

For a very long time, he had learned to 'feel' his surroundings without frame-sensor to rely on. He had forgotten how it felt to be physically touched without initiating the contact. having the sense back so suddenly, without a period of adaptation, felt more than a little weird. Every unexpected touch, even the faintest, disturbed his sensor net.

It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it certainly was uncomfortable.

"Virus scan!" The constructicon explained. "We don't want Megatron to be saved only to die because of parasites."

Starscream only nodded and gestured for him to proceed. To distract himself, he let his optics wander, feeling at least a little secure in the familiarity of his own laboratory. His state fell on Skywarp's form, still standing where he had last left him. "I think you can go, 'Warp" He informed the other seeker. "Your presence is no longer required!"

"It would be better if he stayed." Hook interjected. "My team-mates are still attending the damaged soldiers and I will need assistants for the procedure. Soundwave and Skywarp will have to stay and help me with the operation."

"Alright." The Air commander sighed. "You should get Thundercracker too, if only so he could watch out for Skywarp."

"Not a bad idea." The medic commented. "Hey, Skywarp, go get your boyfriend!"

To Starscream's astonishment, the purple seeker didn't even deny the 'boyfriend' part of Hook's request. He said nothing and teleported out of the lab to do as told. As the red seeker turned toward Hook with an almost cute expression of surprise on his face, the medic chuckled."What? You didn't know?"

"Can't say I did" Starscream muttered his admittance. But he wasn't too shocked either; A lot of unimportant details he had overseen in the past suddenly seemed quite meaningful. He was surprised, but only because his closest subordinates had been having that kind of relationship in his back, and he had never suspected anything before.

The reason behind that oversight was simple: He had been blind and deaf to others all his life.

The only person he'd ever shown interest in had been Megatron, and even then, all he had ever wanted from the warlord was his throne.

His musings had effectively distracted him from the situation at hand, but the medic made sure to bring him back to reality.

"Okay, the scan is done, and you are surprisingly clean!" Hook declared, disconnecting the probe. "Thundercracker has just arrived. So, Starscream, whenever you are ready, we can start."

Starscream off-lined his optics in concentration as he fought his renewed anguish, willing himself to relax and stop being afraid. _This is not real_, he reminded himself, _this is just an illusion...A very vivid illusion! _

"I"m ready." He said, steeling himself.

"It shouldn't last too long." Hook reassured the red seeker as he removed his cockpit and armored shields. "You know what you have to do, right?"

"Yes, yes" Starscream nodded quickly. " I have to pull Megatron's spark in an almost-merge, enough so to keep it next to mine and in control while you operate in his casing."

And what if he had never done this before? It couldn't be that hard. Oh dear...

"I see you have made your homework, that's good! And you have merged before, yes? It is important that you know what to do." The medic extended a flexible tube, attached one opening to Starscream's casing and the other to Megatron's. The connections clicked into place, creating a sterilized atmosphere within the tube.

"Of course I have!" Starscream lied, wishing Hook would just get on with it already.

The constructicon medic beckoned his 'assistants' over and gave them instructions Starscream didn't quite catch, too busy as he was attempting to control his negative emotions. "We are opening Megatron's casing, be ready!"

Much by reflex, and because he had studied the procedure so thoroughly that every step of it had become a automated program on itself, Starscream opened his own casing...

There was a sudden flash of light and he was assaulted by raw energy that set all his senses and sensors ablaze at once.

Something very strong and aggressive surrounded him, closed in around him and caged him. The sudden, unbelievable strength of the attack froze his cognitive functions, making him temporarily unable to think. Fear clouded his judgment so thoroughly that, at first, he found himself unable to remember who his assailant was. But the oppressive energies felt very familiar, harsh, raw and determined to smother him in sensations that were more intense than anything he had experienced before.

Utterly terrified by the unexpected turn of event, Starscream realized with dread that there was nothing he could do to keep the other spark at bay. He had lost control before he even had it.

He gasped, panicked, and wanted to scream for Hook to stop it. But, on the outside, nothing visibly happened.

Soundwave, Thundercracker and Skywarp, although supposed to watch over the spark-control procedure, saw nothing of the seeker's inner struggles. they were completely engrossed by the work of the medic as he skillfully operated inside their leader's chest.

The task of removing the broken shard from Megatron's spark casing was delicate, which made the moment quite intense and stressful. Fortunately, everything went smoothly and with little trouble. Soon enough, the casing was repaired and ready to welcome the spark of its owner back within its confines.

When Hook looked up to see how Starscream was faring in the spark-control procedure, it was already too late.

"Oh slag!" He cursed loudly, making the other three react and follow his horrified stare.

Within the translucent tube that connected the two empty spark-casings, and instead of the two sparks that should have been waiting peacefully in the middle, they could see only one spark.

A spark that was big and positively beaming with raw, dynamic energy. Its essences were swirling furiously and erratically, as if a raging storm was taking place inside of it.

"Slag!" Hook repeated bitterly, slapping the bench in irritation. There was nothing he could possibly do for them; it really was too late. He hated feeling so helpless.

_**To be continued.**_

Thank you for reading. Once again, forgive me for the long delay. Berate me if you must, and comment if you liked this chapter. This story needs encouraging, or it'll find itself at the bottom of my list once again.

Critiques and words of advice are strongly encouraged.

P.S: Despite some slightly suggestive scenes from the last chapter, which had apparently fooled some of you, the pairing **won't be** Soundwave/Starscream. I'm sorry to disappoint, it wasn't my intention.


	7. Chapter 7

A.N: To those who reviewed/Favorited/Are following this story: Thank you a lot for the support !

You cannot imagine how much you motivate me!

* Distributes home-made cookies and waffles around*

**Important note: This chapter backpedals a bit, it starts inside Megatron's head and just before the spark-control procedure started.**

Chapter 7: **O**ut **o**f **c**ontrol.

Megatron was locked in a strange, ethereal world that had no physical boundaries, and where nothing, neither time, nor space, mattered.

For all he was unconscious in the world of living mechanisms, here he was still somewhat aware that nothing he saw and felt was real.

From the beginning of his life, first as a miner, to his glorious time as a champion gladiator and, finally, his rising up as a popular political revolutionary, a respected and feared faction leader and a interplanetary-wide known tyrant, Megatron had known nothing but perpetual violence.

Violence and pain, those were the loyal companions of his long existence. He had long accepted them as such, and had coped with them, since they had made him the fearless, insensitive warrior he had become. He had fought countless battles, faced many enemies, monstrous creatures that were three times his size and even non-sentient things. He had achieved grandiose victories and, sometimes, minor stand downs. Those had, on occasion, put him in such a sorry state, that he had given the best medics a lot of work and painful headaches.

Far from it for this to be the first time he found himself prisoner of his own mind while his body laid in stasis, fighting deactivation at the hands of trusted- and sometimes, less trusted- medics.

Megatron knew what stasis-induced dreams and nightmares were like, he could immediately recognize one of those when they presented themselves to his unconscious self.

Most of the time, they were blurry, nonsensical, utterly dark. And when there was no dream or nightmare, he entered a state of semi-awareness and could distinguish the dark threat of oblivion looming at the invisible edge of his inner world.

He defied it, challenged it to come any closer and taunted it, for he was too confident in his own might to recoil from the obnoxious presence. For all he was cautious of those he had to deal with and who presented a real treat, he positively feared no one, not even death itself!

He never fled, he always fought up front, and the stronger his adversary was, the better!

Oblivion was exceptionally bright today, he mused as the phenomenon appeared to him in the form of a very shiny ball of light. This was quite the unusual occurrence, but Megatron wouldn't let that destabilize him. He was no fool and never let such obvious tricks and cheap attempts at deception confuse him.

"Come and get me if you can!" He bellowed, taunting the entity. With no doubt, this was the emissary of Oblivion who, under a not-so clever disguise, had come for him.

And Megatron, being who he was and pretended to be, wouldn't let himself be taken easily. He was the future ruler of the universe, all resistance brought down by the sole strength of his unbreakable mind. His name, a legend already, wouldn't be remembered as belonging to the fallen monster, the once-powerful tyrant who trespassed in his sleep. He would not allow it!

Also here, he would fight and vanquish, no matter if he had no physical substance in this plane of existence, having left his body in the other world, the real one. But he had his inextinguishable determination and he liked to believe that his mind was the mightiest, the most powerful of all. It certainly was too, or he wouldn't have remained functional for so long.

Yes, he still functioned! This was his victory cry back in the arena and the memory of a crowd of awed spectators cheering him re-sounded in his head, as loud and vivid as it had been back then.

"I still function!" He roared, his mind synthesizing into a visible mental projection of his body. "Face me if you dare, servant of Oblivion!" He called out to the light, "You, who have made the mistake to dare step into my world where you do not belong, come and meet your defeat! For I am Megatron and, in the end, all will bow to my might, even your master!"

Then, with a spark-felt roar that conveyed all the might he claimed to process, he charged the intrusive presence. As his energies flared and coiled around the entity, he felt a powerful surge of feedback he mistook for the familiar rush of cyber-adrenalin he always experienced at times like these, when his adversary presented a real challenge. That never failed to satisfy him.

He wasn't aware of what he was really doing, couldn't possibly realize that, on that very moment in the real world, his spark was merging deeply with another, radically so.

In his inner world, which stasis had created inside of him, things happened quite differently.

As he charged the unwelcome guest and surrounded it, Megatron quickly realized that it wasn't as hostile as an emissary of Oblivion should have been. Better even, it was unmistakably afraid.

Afraid of him...and strikingly familiar.

The entity felt different, yet not completely unlike Megatron himself. It felt mighty in a passive way, its strength and potential for violence as great as those of the skies it claimed as its own kingdom, and where he ruled unchallenged and by far unmatched, for as long as Megatron had known it...or rather, _him_.

Megatron halted his vicious and oppressive attack as soon as he recognized his visitor's identity: This was the fiery creature he had, a long time ago, recruited for his precious skills and who, with time, had proven himself worthy of becoming his second-in-command. Sometimes, even painfully so, and for all parties involved. Yet, Megatron didn't regret his choice...most of the time.

_Starscream._

And if Megatron welcomed his guest with a far calmer composure now, it was an entirely different matter for Starscream.

He who had seen more than anyone could ever see, he who had witnessed things no eyes could bear, he who had thought he could never experience such feelings as cold fear and utter confusion ever again, found himself deeply shocked and utterly terrified as Megatron's spark coiled forcefully around his. Sensations that were so intense he couldn't recognize them assaulted him, and although he was supposed to control the procedure, he found himself overwhelmed by them. He lost the control he'd never quite had.

As he dropped into unconsciousness, Starscream was suddenly pulled inside Megatron's mind, where the sensations were somewhat lessened and felt more distant. There, he faced Megatron's mental projection with no little amount of confusion.

The Decepticon leader approached him, with a smile that predicted nothing good, and Starscream found himself unable to react. He remained still on his spot, frozen by confusion and a fear he couldn't quite explain to himself.

Megatron, as imposing as ever, seemed to tower above him. his highly charismatic aura was radiating power as well as a strong self-confidence his current state shouldn't have allowed, just as vividly as if he was real and physically there with the seeker.

"Starscream," Megatron acknowledged him, his tone low and raspy. He sounded pleased to see him.

And Starscream could only admit to himself that he was equally pleased to see the old fool. He had missed his hated leader on more than a few occasions, whenever he had felt so bored he had wished Megatron could suddenly appear, so Starscream could pester him and amuse himself with his leader's impulsive, violent and funny reactions.

"Megatron," he eventually replied with a slight nod of his head. This had always been how they greeted each other and not even an eternity could have made Starscream forget that.

"Finally!" Megatron said, raising his voice, his tone turning somewhat reproachful. "You deign appear before me at last!"

The seeker regarded him confusedly at first. Had Megatron been expecting him? It was impossible. But then he understood that Megatron most probably thought he was dreaming, and that Starscream was only but a fragment of his imagination.

This wasn't good, he decided. If Megatron dreamed of him, then it could only be a violent dream in which he was certain to end up broken, torn, trashed and cut into as many pieces as his molecular structure allowed.

"Do you have any idea of how many times I have killed Optimus Prime in those endless nightmares of mine?" Megatron asked, his anger visibly rising already.

"I don't know..." Starscream replied, almost by reflex. Apparently, as old as the dance was, the steps were still deeply encoded in his spark. "How many?"

"I've lost count," Megatron stated, annoyed by his unsettling lack of memory. "But I know it was a lot, and that you were never there!"

"I..I apologize. I must have been held back by something, somewhere," Starscream offered, playing along. But should he really be doing this, he wondered. Shouldn't he push Megatron away from him instead? Then tell him he wasn't dreaming at all, that he should stop and step away. That he was...That they were...

"Traitor!" Megatron roared, out of the blue. Then he charged at Starscream and punched him square in the face.

"What the?" Starscream exclaimed in outrage and surprise as he stumbled backward, destabilized by the impact of Megatron's fist. Was this about him not being there when Megatron fought Prime or...? He followed his leader's gaze and choke on his own gasp.

Not far from them, he- _his other self, his past self_- was throwing Megatron out of Astrotrain, and into the void of space.

Was the merge so deep already that Megatron could freely wander among his most intimate memories? It had to be, otherwise they would have never been able to see that particular event of his past.

Starscream knew he couldn't allow Megatron to read him like this, even if the warlord didn't understand what he saw. Those memories held the secrets of the future – and his past – they could never be revealed, to anyone. Megatron had no right to see even the smallest glimpse of them.

"This is not real, Megatron!" He said, desperate to divert his leader's attention. "It is just a dream!"

Too late, Starscream realized that he could no longer tell Megatron about the reality. He couldn't tell him about the merge anymore, not if he wanted to preserve the secrecy of his own memories. He would have to keep playing along and pretend that what everything they would see wasn't real, hoping Megatron wouldn't give a dream too much credits.

"A peculiar dream, it is, then." Megatron stated, observing the scene with partial interest as the being who called himself Unicron reformatted the other Megatron's body into something that was quite ridiculous. It looked like a purple, deformed parody of his previous self.

_Behold, Galvatron!_

_Now go, and get the Matrix!_

"But a dream nonetheless," Starscream quickly said.

_Who disturb my coronation?_

Megatron chuckled, amused by this new scene. Starscream looked downright ridiculous on that dais, with that oversized cape and the too-shiny crown on his head. And that supposed grandiose ceremony...It was very much like Starscream to want something like that. This is bad comedy, the warlord thought.

_Coronation, Starscream? This is bad comedy!_

_Megatron, is that you?_

_There is a hint!_

"What a waste," Megatron commented as he watched 'Galvatron' destroy the seeker with a single blast of his powerful cannon. "That kill was too fast!" He declared in disappointment. "Why rush things up when a long and slow torture could have been much more entertaining!" He finished, chuckling again, darkly.

In the next image that presented itself to them, the planet called Unicron transformed and, with a mighty roar of utter rage, started tearing Cybertron apart.

And Megatron, trapped in a new phase state of semi-awareness, was too limited in his range of thought to be able to think further into what he was seeing, or to begin to grasp the possible meaning of it.

"Megatron!" Starscream shouted in urgency. This was too much, he couldn't allow the warlord to see even one more of these scenes. Grabbing Megatron's head firmly with both hands, he jerked him away from the scene. "I am sorry I wasn't there when you fought Prime!" He babbled out to further distract him.

Megatron scrutinized him with a frown. At first, his expression was one of anger and mistrust, then it relaxed somewhat and was replaced by one of bewilderment. Megatron's face gradually softened, and Starscream found himself confused again when a small, unfamiliar smile suddenly pulled at his leader's mouth.

Megatron's attention span was limited too, here."Why is it that I can never truly hate you," he said, his voice low and soft as he looked at his second-in-command with unsettling, uncharacteristic fondness.

Starscream stared back in surprise at those words and at the most alien expression on his leader's face. He refused to try and understand the meaning of what he had just heard or even acknowledge the reality of this. For a moment, he wondered if this dream wasn't his own after all.

"Megatron?" he asked, his confusion reaching new extends as the warlord moved sensibly closer.

"Silence, fool!" Megatron barked, leaning further toward him. Starscream froze again, transfixed. All of his previous thoughts of fear for his past to be discovered shattered like glass when Megatron moved fast, grabbed his waist and the back of his head in a steel-like hold and closed the last of the distance between them.

If this was really just a dream, Megatron thought, then he didn't see why he could not indulge in it.

He kissed Starscream forcefully, holding him against his frame in a crushing embrace.

The intense kiss added physical potency to the sensations Starscream was already subjected to, from the far too deep merge, from the desperation he felt at his utter loss of control, and from his own, conflicted thoughts on what Megatron was doing to him. It was like being caught inside of a tornado with broken wings, and although he was well aware of what would happen if he didn't hold fast onto reality, he found out he didn't really wanted to. The hold he still had on himself was growing dangerously weak.

This was a kind of fight he wasn't familiar with. There was no pain, no intention to humiliate, just an egoistical need from his leader's part. The warlord still thought he was dreaming, and now Starscream himself doubted the reality of this.

Megatron claimed his mouth with teeth and tongue, dedicated to the task with such brutal tenderness and fiery passion, that Starscream's processor finally gave up and the seemingly ever-present confusion vanished from his mind, saturated by too much sensations. He took the lips-cracking kiss, at first with passive acceptance, then and free from any useless thinking, he allowed himself to respond to the pleasurable touch with equal, violent passion.

Meanwhile, their spark merged even deeper and the seeker remained unaware of the danger as certain codes from Megatron's spark pushed resolutely and forcefully against his own spark's firewalls, successfully making them collapse one by one.

When the last one fell, defeated at last, the code from Megatron's spark activated one of Starscream own that was of the exact same kind. Their codes mingled, giving and taking stream of data and genetic codes away.

Their sparks then started pulsing on the same wave length and frequency, adjusting to each other until they resonated together, creating permanent links.

As the process of bonding completed itself, their sparks, filled with more energy than they could contain, unavoidably reached the point of overload.

On the medical bench, Starscream's unconscious body abruptly tensed and his back arched off the table quite spectacularly.

Inside Megatron's head, Starscream howled and convulsed as a sudden, gigantic wave of pleasure came crashing onto him. It sent him tumbling forward and he pressed against Megatron's chest. The Decepticon leader trembled and growled loudly, equally affected by the seeker's flaring energies responding in kind to his own, fierce ones.

Eventually, it was over. Thoroughly sated, their sparks peacefully returned back into their respective owner's chest, taking a consequent part of the other and giving away as much of themselves as they separated.

The intensity of his overload pulled Starscream out of unconsciousness. He straightened up abruptly on the berth, resting on his elbows as he stared at the ceiling above, his optics wide and impossibly bright. At first, his intakes stalled and refused to function at all, and when they finally kicked on, they released a loud and heavy puff of air.

Megatron looked down at Starscream with horror and confusion as the seeker in his hold suddenly disappeared, leaving him with nothing but emptiness in his arms. The Decepticon leader looked up, then, just in time to see the last of Starscream's memory dissipate in the distance; The seeker feverishly working on the sorry sight that was Megatron's mangled body, and doing all he could to save him.

Megatron frowned.

Not for the first time since Starscream had appeared into his mind, he had a suspicion that what happened had been more than just a dream. His overload had been too powerful, too vivid, and the resulting afterglow felt quite similar. The pleasure he had felt had been too intense for a simple kiss. As for Starscream himself, and even though he was physically gone, his presence still lingered about, far too tangible to be a memory.

oOo

Starscream recovered the whole of his sanity soon after the effects of his overload had subsided. As Soundwave, Thundercracker, Skywarp and Hook stared at him with mixed expressions of disapproval, poorly-hidden embarrass and, in Soundwave's case, fake indifference, Starscream himself wasn't sure what to think or feel anymore.

He was very much aware that they knew what had just happened, and if their expressions were anything to go by, he most probably had made quite a show of himself when he had overloaded there, on that bench, right in front of them.

"You have never merged before, have you?!" Hook asked him with a knowing smirk.

"Was the operation on Megatron's spark casing successful?" Starscream dodged the question with another, unwilling to say a word about what he had just gone through.

"Affirmative," Soundwave droned out. "Operation successful. All vital components: replaced. Megatron's chance to exit stasis in the next three orns: 87%"

"Very well, then, congratulation on a job well done" Starscream declared, addressing everyone who had participated to the operation as he sat up and hopped off the berth with more or less grace. "But keep him hooked to the life-support machinery and watch him closely until he emerges from stasis," he ordered, addressing Hook in particular.

The red seeker kept his face carefully blank, not wanting for them to see how affected he really was by the failed procedure and the resulting 'modifications' of his spark. They would no longer respect him if they thought he couldn't handle such a thing.

"And, Soundwave, keep me up-to-date on the situation back on Earth! You are to inform me immediately if something unusual or suspicious happens in the Autobot's base, and I mean, anything!" He reminded the communication officer.

Starscream, then, turned toward Skywarp and Thundercracker who, only now, dared to look him in the optics. "You are dismissed for now," he informed them. "Do whatever you want until shift-time, but remain on Stand-by."

"For what?" Skywarp asked, looking annoyed. He had wanted some free-time, and stand-by's were always boring. Thundercracker watched Starscream expectantly, equally annoyed by the order.

"For the Autobots!" the Air-commander said, quickly making up a clever half-lie. " Shall I remind you that we—Megatron killed their leader. We have to prepare ourselves for retaliation!"

"Retaliation?" Thundercracker snorted. "They have lost a lot of mechs back there! Even if they wanted revenge, they don't have the numbers to do so anymore!"

"Suit yourselves, then," Starscream retorted with a grin, he moved closer to the blue seeker as he spoke "Go to berth and let them come and sneak in while the base is left unguarded. Let them enter your quarters and slit your throat open while you recharge." Lifting a blue finger, he drew an horizontal line across Thundercracker's throat. The blue seeker flinched, imagining it was an energon blade cutting through the cables there.

"Remember," Starscream said again, "while it takes five average-sized Autobots to put a fight-ready seeker down, it takes only one of them to snuff the spark of a sleeping Decepticon."

"Yes, commander," the two seekers replied in concert, lowering their head somewhat sheepishly. "We'll remain on stand-by as per your orders."

"I knew I could count on you," Starscream said, giving them each a light pat on the shoulder. "I'll be in my quarters, working on reports. If anything comes up, inform me at once!"

"As you command." they said, and Soundwave's monotone voice joined in the acknowledgment.

Starscream nodded his satisfaction at their attitude and turned to leave. As he reached the door, he glanced back over his shoulder shortly, throwing a most discreet parting look at the prone figure of the Decepticon leader. He sighed deeply, yet silently, and finally exited the lab.

He needed a short moment of isolation and silence, so he could finally put some order in the chaos of his thoughts and quietly process the implications of the newly-formed, accidental, bond he now shared with his most hated rival.

_**To be continued.**_

_I hope this wasn't too confusing. Anyway, you can always ask me questions about this chapter if there is something you didn't understand. I will reply as long as you don't ask me for spoilers, I never give spoilers! _

_With the winter holidays coming, I will have a lot of things to take care of. Next update might not come before Mid-January. I apologize in advance!_

_Also, and since I won't have another occasion to do so, I wish you a merry Christmas in advance! _

_Deezaster82_


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